Preschool Name Recognition Discovery Bottle
During our rainbow unit, our small groups made discovery bottles with letter beads. Not any letters, mind you. Letters in their names! Preschoolers LOVE their names. This is why we do so many name activities! One of the first written words they recognize are their names. We have them displayed all over the classroom, on their circle time stools, at the snack table, on the chart announcing who is class helper, and many other ways. And so, when we made these letter bead discovery bottles, they were simply fascinated that they could find the letters in their names. They have asked all week when they can take them home, and tomorrow is the day!
Empty water bottles Rice that is dyed the colors of the rainbow Letter beads A funnel
I sorted the alphabet beads ahead of time for each child. I placed the colored rice in separate containers and added a funnel and a scoop. You can read how we dye our rice in this sunflower activity. Once everything was in the bottle, we placed the cap on and shook bottle. This was their favorite part as they watched the colors mix. I showed the children how to hold the bottle with their helper hand, place the funnel on top of the bottle, and then pour the rice through the funnel with their worker (dominant) hand. They put a few scoops of each color in the bottle and also their letter beads.
I highly suggest gluing the lids (we used hot glue) so that they cannot be opened. Once the lids are secure and the colors have been mixed, invite the children to find the letters of their names that are buried in the rice. Our preschoolers enjoyed swapping bottles with friends and finding their names, too!
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